FunTimes Magazine Culture & Entertainment, Week of May 8, 2023
The merry month of May is moving lightning fast. Let’s take it to the streets and have a family fun festival. Check out these upcoming low-cost or free neighborhood block parties/festivals around town, plus some other goodies in the event “gift bag.”
Photo: New Kensington Development Corp.
Obstacle course of fun…
May 31, 2023. It’s a mash-up of a parade of floats, an architectural design competition, and slapstick fun, complete with a three-mile obstacle course. The Kensington Derby and Arts Festivalcomes alive in Philadelphia’s East Kensington and Fishtown neighborhoods. Witness human-powered transit, neighborhood artists, and local businesses all on display. The festival will feature 100+ local arts, a dozen food vendors, and performances by local musicians. Catch the funky derby of human-powered contraptions moving through an obstacle-filled urban race course that ends in a mud pit. Free entrance, noon to 6 p.m. Trenton Ave., between Norris Street and Frankford Avenue. E-mail: kensingtonkineticcarts@gmail.com or kensingtonkineticcarts.org.
HBCU Festival celebrates culture
May 20, 2023. The HBCU Festivalpresented by TD Bank will convert the Mann Center in Fairmount Park into a huge college fair for the day to celebrate the importance and culture of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Enjoy live performances, panel discussions, and family activities. The interactive college fair will feature representatives from HBCUs. HBCU choirs, marching bands, majorettes, and cheer squads will keep the venue rocking. Munch out at food trucks; the kids will love the face painting, balloon making, crafts, and folks decked out in sorority and fraternity apparel in a college campus environment. Free but register for tickets, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mann Center for the Performing Arts, 5201 Parkside Ave., eventbrite.com or manncenter.org
Photo: italianmarketfestival.com
Grease the poles at the Italian Market Festival
May 20 & 21, 2023. Spettacolare means spectacular in Italian. That’s what this neighborhood block party is. And we’re happy to report that this one stretches at least six blocks. It has it all at the Italian Market Festival — live music, arts and crafts, authentic old-country food, and the famous 30-foot Grease Pole contest – plus the new Cornhole At The Festival Tournament. South 9th Street in the Italian Market, from Wharton to Fitzwater streets, in South Philadelphia. Free entrance. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., italianmarketfestival.com.
Photo: northernlibertiesnightmarket.com
Northern Liberties Night Market is hot
May 25, 2023. What better way to spend a Thursday than at the Northern Liberties Night Market? “Sip, savor, and stroll “is the event’s tagline. Enjoy a bevy of food trucks, shopping vendors, superb sidewalk cafes on Restaurant Row, live music, and street performers. Free entrance, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., N. 2nd St., between W. Laurel St and Fairmount Ave., e-mail: info@2ndstfestival.org or northernlibertiesnightmarket.com.
ODUNDE week of festival fun
June 4 – June 11, 2023. At age 48, the ODUNDE, known as the United States’ largest African-American street festival, is back better than ever, with an authentic African marketplace showcasing 125+ worldwide vendors selling native crafts, jewelry, and apparel from African nations, the Caribbean, and Brazil. The massive 15-block festival will feature two stages of cool live performances. Free entrance, June 11th final-day activities, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., 23rd and South streets, in South Philadelphia, odundefestival.org.
Photo: juneteenthphilly.org
Juneteenth Parade & Festival celebrates freedom
June 18, 2023. The annual Philly’s Juneteenth celebration will shine brightly in West Philadelphia with carnival-style fun – a parade, children’s village, marketplace with artwork and 250 vendors, festive cultural floats, kid’s activities, and a music festival featuring house vocalist Lady Alma and others on various stages. It’s historically significant and is credited as the oldest nationally recognized commemoration of the end of slavery (1885) in the United States. Free entrance, noon to 8 p.m., Most events will be at Malcolm X Park, 52nd and Pine Streets, and along 52nd Street, including the music festival near Larchwood Street. The parade will be live-streamed on 6abc.com. E-mail: info@juneteenthphilly.org or juneteenthphilly.org.
Branch out, get a free tree
May 20, 2023. Get a beautiful tree for your yard or sidewalk through the TreePhilly Community Yard Tree Giveaway Program. Some 1,000 trees are distributed to interested residents citywide through the ongoing initiative organized by Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and the Fairmount Park Conservancy. There are several giveaways in May. This is one of several upcoming tree pick-up sites: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Awbury Recreation Center, 6101 Ardleigh St. To order a tree, register by May 16, 2023. For the Awbury Rec. For center giveaways or other future distributions in the city, e-mail treephilly@phila.gov or treephilly.org.
Philadelphia Orchestra, Renee Fleming, Angelique Kidjo team up for can’t-miss concert
May 16, 2023. Music and Artistic Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra will highlight soprano supreme Rene Fleming and vocalist. Angélique Kidjo Journey through Richard Rodgers’ The Carousel Waltz and the classic “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Carousel, performed by five-time GRAMMY Award winner Fleming. This heralded singer’s selections will include Puccini’s “O mia babbino caro” and GRAMMY-winning composer Kevin Puts’ “Evening,” from the album for which Fleming and Nézet-Séguin won a 2023 GRAMMY Award. Five-time GRAMMY-winning Kidjo will perform her “Ominira” and the traditional Kenyan folk song, “Malaika,” plus her rousing, signature ode to her homeland, “Afirika.” The promotional material states it best: “Kidjo takes her fans on genre-bending musical odysseys that incorporate the traditions of Africa with elements of American R&B, funk, and jazz.” The finale features the two icons in a rendition of Leonard Cohen’s anthem “Hallelujah,” and Burt Bachrach’s “What the World Needs Now Is Love.” $50 to $150, 215-893-1999 or philorch.org.
